Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia

Andrew Fisher (29 August 1862 – 22 October 1928) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the fifth prime minister of Australia from 1908 to 1909, 1910 to 1913 and 1914 to 1915. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and was particularly notable for leading Labor to its first federal election victory and first majority government.
Fisher was born in Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland. He left school at a young age to work in the nearby coal mines, becoming secretary of the local branch of the Ayrshire Miners' Union at the age of 17. Fisher emigrated to Australia in 1885, where he continued his involvement with trade unionism. He settled in Gympie, Queensland, and in 1893 was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as a representative of the Labor Party. Fisher lost his seat in 1896, but returned in 1899 and later that year briefly was a minister in the government of Anderson Dawson.
In 1901, Fisher was elected to the new federal parliament representing the Division of Wide Bay. He was the Minister for Trade and Customs for a few months in 1904, in the short-lived government of Chris Watson. Fisher was elected deputy leader of the ALP in 1905 and replaced Watson as leader in 1907. He initially provided support to the minority government of Protectionist leader Alfred Deakin, but in November 1908 the ALP withdrew its support and Deakin resigned as prime minister. Fisher subsequently formed a minority government of his own. It lasted only a few months, as in June 1909 Deakin returned as prime minister at the head of a new anti-socialist Liberal Party.
Fisher returned as prime minister after the 1910 federal election, which saw Labor attain majority government for the first time in its history. His second government passed wide-ranging reforms – old-age and disability pensions, enshrined new workers' rights in legislation, established the Commonwealth Bank, oversaw the continued expansion of the Royal Australian Navy, began construction on the Trans-Australian Railway, and formally established what is now the Australian Capital Territory. However, at the 1913 election the ALP narrowly lost its House of Representatives majority to the Liberal Party, with Fisher being replaced as prime minister by Joseph Cook.
After just over a year in office, Cook was forced to call a new election, the first double dissolution. Labor won back its majority in the House, and Fisher returned for a third term as prime minister. During the election campaign he famously declared that Australia would defend Britain "to the last man and the last shilling". However, he struggled with the demands of Australia's participation in World War I and in October 1915 resigned in favour of his deputy Billy Hughes. Fisher subsequently accepted an appointment as the High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom, holding the position from 1916 to 1920. After a brief return to Australia, he retired to London, dying there at the age of 66. His cumulative total of just under five years as prime minister is the second-longest by an ALP leader, surpassed only by Bob Hawke.

Sir Walter Logie Forbes Murdoch, (17 September 1874 – 30 July 1970) was a prominent Australian academic and essayist famous for his intelligence and wit. He was a founding professor of English and former Chancellor of the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth, Western Australia.
A member of the prominent Australian Murdoch family, he was the father of Catherine, later prominent as Dr Catherine King (1904–2000), a radio broadcaster in Western Australia; the uncle of both Sir Keith, a journalist and newspaper executive, and Ivon, a soldier in the Australian Army; and the great uncle of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch University is named in Sir Walter's honour; as is Murdoch, the suburb surrounding its main campus, located in Perth, Western Australia.

Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwar period. He also won fame for his portrait work, winning the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture in 1939 and 1940.

Thomas Louis Buvelot Esson (10 August 1878 – 27 November 1943) was an Australian poet, journalist, critic and playwright. He was a co-founder of the Pioneer Players. His second wife, Hilda Esson (nee Bull), had a career in theatre besides working as a doctor in the field of public health.

Arthur James Arnot (26 August 1865 – 15 October 1946) was a Scottish electrical engineer and inventor, best known for patenting the world's first electric drill. He later designed the Spencer Street Power Station.